I } J j I I t f ) ... . DO NOT , OISCUSS SfNSJTIVE t ) , SSUF:S , , ,. ) " )li it l .# 38 to hilnself, "It's too late for such blessings" W HEN Phyllis Gurdin announced in the occult lnagazines that the spirit of Tholnas Delano Gurdin had 1 eturned to Planet Earth and entered Jacob Getzelles, a Hebrew scholar, a phIlosopher, and a lnystic, she expected Inany enthusiastic letters and visits froln the Bishop's followers. But for SOlne reason the tidings did not evoke a response. Even her own group re- mained skeptical. Jacob Getzelles had just undergone surgery and he looked elnaciated. He did not reselnble the Bishop in any way. Tholnas Delano Gurdin had heen tall and blue-eyed, had had long hair, spoke with a strong voice and in a Biblical style. He had a lnagnetic gaze. Jacob Getzelles was slnall and shy, and spoke English with an accent. He perlnitted Phyllis to be his lnouthpiece, nodded 111eekly to whatever she said. The Bishop's robe, which Phyllis lnade narrower and shorter, and the Il1itre she put on Jacob Getzelles gave hiln the look of a schlelniel. Actually, there waS intrigue against Phyllis alnong the faIthful. She had received InOner for the church and not accounted for It to the com111ittee She had sIgned a disadvantageous contract with a builder, and lnany of the con- gregation suspected that she had ac- - A...- .A J-- - t '\ " .. I ..- ,Å but there was no answer. Jacob could see that Bessie was sick from aggrava- tion. She practically stopped talkIng to hiln. She spent her tilne s1110king and scribbling figures. He never saw her eat. Jacob was also going through a crisis. Even though he had been oper- ated on, he still had difficulty urinating. 1""he doctor spoke of the need for addi- tional surgery. Son1e time ago, Phyllis had brought hiln a valise full of books about spiritisln, theosophy, astrology. Jacob read the works of MIne. Blavat- sky, Gurdjieff, Ouspensky, Ford, and the bible of psychical research, "Phan- taslns of the Living," by Gurnev, My- ers, înd Podlnore Although Bessie's house had air-conditioning, it was hu- Inid and Jacob relnained in his under- wear all day. He lay on the sofa, peered into the books through his sunglasses, and muttered to hilnself. The story of the lnan whose wife visited hiln while he was aboard a ship in the Atlantic, though she never left her hOlne in the West, was certainly relnarkable. Even if only this single caSe were true, all vd.lues lnust be reappraised. But was it true? It could have been a drealn, a hallucination, or silnplr a lie. How Indn} InIracles were attributed to each little wonder rabbi, each fortune-teller? How Inany revelations did Phyllis re- ceive each day? 'I'hat afternoon Bessie left the house without teHing Jacob where- she was going. Suddenly the door was flung open and she staggered in. "She ran away, the charlatan, the crilninal! She locked the shutters and didn't even say goodbye. It's your fa u I t. You r s, you r s, yours!" Bessie cried out hystencally . "You were the one who led lne to an those lnaniacs and crack- pot!;. She ha<; absconded with my fortune. laIn left naked and penniless. Even the house no longer belongs to us. She hypno- ti7ed me into insanity!" Bessie tore the book froln his hands and thl ew it to the floor. She over- turned the coffee table, which was heaped wIth Inagazines, and screeched, "What nonsense are you reading, burying yourself in this garbage? It's all lies. She's as much a saInt as I'In the Pope. Her hus- band was a faker. It's all swindle! Bishop Jacob cepted a kickback. Her relations with Bessie, who had becolne a stock specu- 1ator and real-estate operator, were not becolning for a person supposed to have one foot in Heaven. Both anonyn10us and signed letters caIne to Phyllis in which she was called hypocrite, thief, eIl1hezzler, and Jacob impostor and a fr lud. SOlneonc reported the situation to the district attorney. During the afternoons when Jacob Getzelles lay down in his rOOln, he heard Bessie en- gaged in long phone conversations with Phyllis, and it was not about the high- er spheres but about intel est, Inort- gages, credits. Phyllis did not stay overnight at Bessie's anYlnore, and Jacob Getzelles did not need to worry about his virility It all ended in a fias- co. The ground where the church was to stand proved to be unsafe, and ex- perts warned that in case of heavy rains the building could slide downhill. The sect's lnagazine accused Phyllis Gurdin of being a false prophet. 1""he SUlnlner was unusually hot. Most of the lnelnbers of Phyllis's cir- cle went to the Rocky Mountains or to the ocean to cool off. Others partici- pated in occult conferences in Texas, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, New Jersey. SOlne studied the laws of KarIna and Nirvana in California in a vegetarian colony headed by a whIte-bearded gu- ru. Days passed and Phyllis did not caU. Bessie tried to get her on the telephone f'\ L \